I've got a coon! Help please!

[Chelsa'sChicks]

The fire works scared my gobbler so badly he flew the coop and a coyote got him.

Check your local laws. In some places it's illegal to relocate some animals without permission.

Correct. You caught me editing lol

 

[AudieWarren]

Correct. You caught me editing lol

LOL I've had to edit a few this morning.... Haven't made coffee yet. Don't want to wake everyone else up quite yet.

 

[pinknblackchaos]

It ate one and killed 11. We had about 30.We didn't close the little door to the roost and our electric fence got grounded out. That combination made them sitting ducks. We set leg traps the next night and caught it. I was 1st mad at myself. I was super mad with the possum. I would have been OK with just one being ate. I mean it's nature. Killing 11 for shiz and giggles made me furious.

So sorry about your losses. My loss was an error on my part as well. I am thankful it only got one. After your story i will count my lucky stars for sure!

 

[Redhead Rae]

Whatever I catch (raccoon or opossum) is taken for a drive. Check your state laws to make sure you can..

Relocated animals are often starved to death or killed by resident animals. A bullet to the head is more merciful.

 

[Chelsa'sChicks]

Relocated animals are often starved to death or killed by resident animals. A bullet to the head is more merciful.

I'm sure they manage just fine and may the strongest survive

 

[Redhead Rae]

I'm sure they manage just fine and may the strongest survive

Actually, they usually don’t, unless you drop them off near other people and they make a further nuisance of themselves by raiding trash cans and killing their animals.

I read a study someone did with relocated nuisance animals. I’ll have to find it again. They either go back to their thieving ways in their new environment or they starve in the wilderness because they are used to foraging for human provided food sources. These animals are shown where and how to hunt/forage by their mothers in the range they were born in or not too far away from it. If they are taken out of that range they don’t know where the good spots for food are or they turn back to raiding from humans.

A bullet is better off for everyone.

I’ll see if I can find the study I read. It’s been a while.

 

[Folly's place]

Chelsa, check with your DNR and ask.
You may feel better relocating animals illegally, but it's not doing them any favors. Here in Michigan, we can relocate either on our own property, or on private land within our county, with landowner permission. Find out what's okay in your state, and do what's right.
Recommending that people break laws here, or anywhere online, isn't the best thing to do either.
Often, the relocated critter will make it home again, and then is happy to kill more chickens, and never get into another live trap.
Spreading diseases like rabies and canine distemper, both not rare in raccoons, is not a good thing either.
Another rant over.
Mary

 

[Howard E]

I'll piggy bag onto what Mary suggests......sorta. The general rule of thumb is if you trap it, you kill it. No exceptions. If you are not willing to do that, then simply let it be. Don't relocate it, just let it be. So then what?

I personally don't kill varmints either, but I have it fixed so I don't have to. Birds stay in housing that no varmint can get in once the doors are closed for the night. And birds roam around inside a yard protected by a brutally hot electric fence by day. A fence that to date, no predator has breached.

Once a predator gets a dose of that fence, their interest in chickens goes away. A near death experience level of hot. So they stay away. So that is why I never have to kill em. I would.......in a heartbeat.......but thanks to that fence, I never have to.

 

[Folly's place]

Since I've had a very good coop and run, there haven't been very many issues here. Last year, rats and mice, and they got poison bait. Not nice, but effective. Show me how to do electric for them!
A few years ago, a daytime fox attack while the birds were ranging, Ten nice hens dead, and the fox killed within a week. A sick mangy fox, poor guy.
My coop and run are three feet from horse fencing, so having a nice electrified poultry area can't be done. Overall, it works very well, but Howard's plan is best if possible. Hindsite is great! My chicken coop was done years ago, and it's too late to move everything.
Starting over, I'd do what he's done.
Mary

 

[Folly's place]

And, if I trap a raccoon, opossum, or fox (as if that's going to happen!) I do shoot it. No relocation! Nice cats get rehomed after the whole test/ neuter/ vaccinate episode. One of them is a greeter at a vet clinic!
Mary